From March 29 - May 3, 2002, during the second Intifada,
Israel conducted Operation Defensive Shield. Before Cast Lead, it was its
largest military operation since June 1967 when Israel occupied Palestine.

On September 23, 2001, a warrant was issued for Barghouti's
arrest. On April 14, 2002, he was arrested on spurious charges of murder,
aiding and abetting murder, promoting murder, criminal conspiracy, and
being an active member of a terrorist organization.

At the time he said:

"I am a political leader, a member of the Palestinian
Legislative Council, elected by my people. Israel has no right to try me,
to accuse me, to judge me. This is a violation of international law. I
have a (legal) right to resist occupation."

On September 5, his trial began. Barghouti disputed its
legitimacy under international law. On December 12, Judge Zvi Gurfinkel
ruled as follows:

"I reject the argument at this stage of the proceeding
regarding the Court's authority in the context of the petition for the
detention pending completion of proceedings filed by the State against
the Defendant."

"Ultimately, the State of Israel has the right and
the authority to judge the Defendant," according to Israeli and international
law.

On May 20, 2004, Barghouti was convicted of involvement
in three terrorist attacks killing five people. Acquitted on 33 other charges,
he received five consecutive life sentences plus 40 years.

A three-judge panel ruled that although he didn't fully
control local Brigade leaders and wasn't directly involved, he had "significant
influence" over their conduct.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) international organization
of parliaments and sovereign states published a legal assessment of his
proceedings based on case notes, prosecutorial member and defense team
interviews, as well as others with international NGO trial observers.

IPU concluded that:

"From the beginning of the investigations until
the final day of the trial, the prosecution put almost as much effort into
staging a media event as it did into working on the legal aspects."

Moreover, show trial theatrics and publicity took precedence
over Barghouti's legal rights. Numerous international laws were breached.
Judicial fairness was denied. The entire process was illegitimate. It elevated
him more than ever to prominence.

"The State of Israel is directly and indirectly
criminally responsible for committing specific acts of genocide, ethnic
cleansing, including uprooting Palestinians by military attacks, arbitrary
arrests and illegal imprisonment, administrative detention, attacks on
women, children and the elderly, systematic and wanton destruction of property
and homes, (and) systematic expropriation and dispossession...."

He added other charges, including:

Violence to life and person (including assassinations),
confiscation of lands and property, creation of separate reserves and Bantustans,
disruptive public life and terrorizing a whole population (including collective
punishment and reprisals)...."

In addition, "racial discrimination, stealing, looting
and plundering, infliction of serious bodily or mental harm (including
torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment), mutilation, causing death
and serious injury, (and) deliberate imposition of (inhumane) living conditions...."

Also, "legislative measures calculated to prevent
Palestinians from participation in the political, social, economic and
cultural life and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the
full development of Palestinians, exploitation of labor, persecution of
organizations and members, depriving persons of fundamental rights and
freedoms because they oppose military occupation, colonialism, or apartheid,
and other criminal acts."

Barghouti powerfully presented provable facts. Yet he's
wrongfully imprisoned while legions of past and present Israeli leaders
remain unaccountable for decades of crimes of war and against humanity,
slow-motion genocide, and much more. Justice awaits its day.

Release Barghouti

On November 8, 2011, The New York Times (a notorious
Israeli supporter) gave op-ed space to Avinoam Bar-Yosef, Jewish People
Policy Planning Institute president and former daily Maariv chief diplomatic
correspondent.

Headlined, "Release Marwan Barghouti," he said:

Barghouti's "regarded as the sole Palestinian leader
who enjoys the full trust of Fatah and the Palestinian public, (and) is
said to have figured prominently in high-level Israeli consultations (in
retaliation against) Abbas for his" UN de jure membership petition.

"The Israeli peace camp" wants him released.
Israel so far refuses.

Bar-Yosef knows him well. He "never denied the right
of the Jewish people to a Jewish state." He favored an Islamic Palestinian
one, but "expressed contempt for Islamic fundamentalists."

As a Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member, he
strongly opposed Fatah corruption. He's a powerful leader. "He is
rightly courted by the Obama administration and many Israelis."

Most Israelis support a two-state solution provided Palestine
recognizes Israel as a Jewish state and accepts limited right of return
privileges. Abbas can't achieve it. Only Barghouti can and deserves a chance.

Barghouti's Background

Detailed information on him can be found at:

free barghouti.org

Called the architect of the first Intifada (1987 - 1993),
he symbolizes Palestinian unity and resistance. He served as Fatah West
Bank Higher Committee Secretary-General (to develop civil society). He's
also a PLC member.

He's easily Palestine's most popular leader and would
win overwhelmingly if allowed to run for president.

At age 15, he joined Fatah and co-founded its Youth Movement
(Shabiba). In 1978, he was arrested and imprisoned for over four years
for "membership in a banned organization."

In 1985, he was arrested again and administratively detained
uncharged for six months. In 1987, he was expelled to Jordan for "incitement."
He liaisoned between exiled PLO members and Fatah during the first Intifada.

In 1989, he was elected to Fatah's Revolutionary Council
and the PLO Central Council. In April 1994, he returned to the West Bank.
He supports Palestinian independence; a two-state within 1967 borders;
peace with Israel; social, political and economic justice; democratic values,
and women's rights.

Initially an Oslo supporter, he later rejected it. Settlement
expansions betrayed it. As a result, he urged ending negotiations until
Israel unconditionally halted them and committed to ending Palestine's
occupation.

He denied founding the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, advocates
a political solution, rejects violence or submission, but supports "any
(legal) action against the Israeli occupation."

He also became disillusioned with America as an "honest
broker." As Oslo dissolved into violence, he urged liberating resistance.

In prison, he completed his high school education and
became fluent in Hebrew. He later earned bachelor's and master's degrees
at Birzeit University. His master's thesis covered Palestinian-French relations
from 1967 - 1997. He was also active in student politics and headed BZU's
Student Council.

She calls him Palestine's "natural leader,"
saying opinion polls show he's "the choice of Palestinians because
of his adherence to the two-state solution, his fight against corruption
and for the rights of women and democracy."

They also want him freed "to lead them in their
fight against occupation."

Israel calls him a terrorist. Supporters know he champions
diplomacy, not violence.

He's also for Palestinians and Jews living independently
in their own states in peace. Israel chooses confrontation and violence
to prevent it.

A Final Comment

On the eve of last October's prisoner swap, Barghouti's
secretly written book was smuggled out of prison by lawyers and family
members. Titled, "One Thousand Nights in Solitude," it detailed
his prison treatment.

Once arrested and detained, Palestinians are guilty by
accusation. Convictions are virtually certain. So is horrendous treatment,
including physical and psychological torture, as well as other forms of
abuse.

Political activist Majad Abdel Hamid said Barghouti's
"trying to create a civil resistance" in prison. "If all
Palestinians refused to recognize the legitimacy of" military trials
and automatic convictions, "Israel would be in big trouble. This is
partly what the book is about."

Barghouti endured three years of punishing tiny cell
isolation, as well as other physical and psychological torment. He never
broke and champions Palestinian unity and nonviolent resistance to end
Israel's occupation.

He also authored two books and a University of Cairo
doctoral dissertation titled, "The Legislative Council and its Contribution
to the Democratic Process in Palestine from 1996 to 2008."

In 1999, he was accepted by the University of Cairo and
Arab Academy for Research and Studies to pursue doctoral studies. In prison,
he successfully completed them.

Free or imprisoned, he symbolizes hope. Supporters hope
one day he'll be free to lead them.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
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